To hope my landlord will not notice this?

[RevoltingPeasant]

Argh, trivial, I am so vexed about this.

We are in the process of moving out of a rental house. In taking a picture down, I spotted that the paintwork in the living room had been damaged. I remembered that the LLs had left some paint, helpfully labelled with 'living room', in the garage. No problem - just find the correct tin and paint over, job done.

Except. The paint is not the same colour as the wall, despite being labelled. It looked the same when it was wet, but it has dried several shades darker and is quite visible. I know I should've spot tested it, but I assumed it would be fine.

To make matters worse... the previous tenants did a bit of a number on the property, including scratching that particular wall. So whilst I was tidying up my own (really quite small) mess, I 'helpfully' painted over the other tenant's damage - just thought it was a nice thing to do.

Now the wall is a mess. AIBU to chip off a bit more paint, go to Homebase's paint matching service, and repaint the wall, hoping the LL will just not notice? Or should I fess up at this point before I make matters worse?

[RevoltingPeasant]

Trivial but I am vexed about it. Just generally incompetent really

[lubeybooby]

Yeah just paint over it I'm sure it will be fine if all done in the same colour, couple of coats.

[SenoritaViva]

I would match with homebase and paint over. Unless there's loads of paint, then you could just do a coat over the whole room?! Whichever is the less hassle really.

[OnlyWantsOne]

use left over paint and paint that one wall - and tell your LL that is what youve done!

No big deal really :)

[fargate]

Just love the word ''vexed'' I've not heard it for donkey's years.

Good luck.

[Jackstini]

As long as the wall is all the same colour it should be fine.
Landlord is also at fault for labelling the paint tin wrong!
(And I am a landlord if that helps)

[Angel786]

Paintvover the whole thing rather than fess up, else ll could charge you for professionals to come in.

The paint prob didn't match because it fades after time.

[LRDTheFeministDragon]

Depending on what the damage was, you might find it counted as 'fair wear and tear' anyway. You should take pictures so you can compare them to the pictures you took (I hope?) at the start of the tenancy, then you can show whether or not the state of the place is ok or not.

We've had minor damage on walls before (eg., a bit of plaster crumbling at a cracked point, an old rawl plug working its way loose), but it's been classed as wear and tear in both cases.

[LRDTheFeministDragon]

Btw, I agree with angel it'll be because the paint on the walls has faded that the colour doesn't match. As a rule of thumb I'd never do work on a rented property as some places will charge you more for the cost of putting right a bad job than for the original work that needed doing - but in this case it sounds as if they'd have had to re-paint anyway.

[HerHissyness]

Knocks and marks are Fair Wear and Tear.

Paint Touch ups are marks YOU make to the wall.

You are always better to leave the marks than to touch them up.

I am an inventory clerk.

Check your inventory, hopefully the marks, chips and scuffs on the wall from the previous tenants are there.

If you have now made the wall patchy, tbh, you'd be better off repainting the whole wall until it isn't. Make sure it's in the right kind of colour - i.e magnolia as ought to be stated in the inventory and not a completely different colour.

[RevoltingPeasant]

Hissy didn't know that counted as fair wear and tear probably why the previous tenants just left them!! That'll teach me to be so bloody officious....

[LRDTheFeministDragon]

Hissy - you said that better than me, thanks - I meant I think the original was probably fair wear and tear.

I would say don't repaint it though - if you make it worse/they think you made it worse they will charge. Do you really want to find the one time you drop a paintbrush on the carpet/get a tiny bit of magnolia on the ceiling is this time?

Just fess up and hope they are nice, I think.

[LRDTheFeministDragon]

Plus if you repaint, there's no way that wall will match the other walls. It'll still look funny, whatever you do.

[HerHissyness]

Chips, scrapes, knocks and rubs are come by during the NORMAL use of the property. If you have whacking great big chunks out of the wall, that's different.

Painting touch ups is a deliberate act, therefore if it is noticeable and causes a need to re-paint to return the wall into normal clean condition, then it is potentially chargeable. The other thing is, if you are re-painting, ALWAYS ask permission.

It's your home, you are expected to live. the odd knock or scuff is to be expected.

The other factor is the length of time you have been there. 6m and the expected wear and tear allowed is MUCH less than 1 year or 2 years, understandably.

If you drop a paintbrush with emulsion, it'll come out. baby wipes can get gloss paint out, so they'll get emulsion out. Recently had it with a checking out tenant who HAD repainted all walls, he dropped some magnolia paint on navy blue carpet, my tesco value (shite) wipes got it out!

If you have an agent managing the property, you could ask them to pop around and give you their opinion? If they say repaint, it'll be cheaper for you to do it than one of their workmen. The cost would come out of your deposit.

Cleaning is the main issue LL can get deductions. Make sure you get the oven and hob clean, if you have an accurate inventory that states everything was cleaned professionally for your tenancy, if you don't get it cleaned professionally (with receipts) you may be liable for deductions. If it was just stated as clean, but not professional - Oven Pride is fantastic for cleaning ovens, racks and grill pans.

Backs of doors, the inside of the washing machine powder compartment, and skirting, light fittings etc are areas people over look.
If your washing machine seal is blackening, put bleach in the powder compartment overnight then run the machine on the highest heat programme you have - sling your white towels in if you wish!
The chrome drainages/taps etc all need to be sparkling (viakal/cillit bang etc) Carpets cleaned if they were done for your check in.